Dubai Creek

Fourteen kilometers long Dubai Creek is a major tourist attraction of the city, though the extent to which this creek supports foreign exchange and trade may not be fully evident to a common tourist. Along eight wharfages of the Creek, around 720 thousand tones of cargo is exchanged with neighboring countries like Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen and India every year. The Creek can accommodate as many as 31 ships at one time with a net weight cap of 800 tones.

A major attraction in Dubai Creek is Abras or wooden boats using which people commute between places in Deira side and Bur side. Abras were the backbone of traditional water transport of this city. These days, Rowing Abras are hard to find in Dubai Creek, as most of them have undergone modernization and diesel engine stole the show. UAE authorities were, however, keen to retain the eco-friendly character of original Abras. Abras are now run by Electric Motors. All resorts along the Dubai Creek arrange Abras for guests who can go on a cruise contemplating on the tranquility of ocean waters.

Several artists have been attracted by the magnificence of this marine phenomenon and have re-created the beauty and magnificence of Dubai Creek in their paintings. An Expressionist painting by Olga Konoschuk, a contemporary Ukrainian artist, clearly sketches the marine attraction of the place with the bluish tones used in the painting.

After a study conducted in 1954 under the patronage of late H.H.Shaikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, funds were poured in by one of the banks in Dubai and loan was availed from Kuwaiti Government for the widening of the Creek. Permanent bridges are also built to link both sides of the Creek and one of the bridges was named after Al Maktoum. Adding to the revenue of the Creek, oil reserves were discovered along the Creek in 1967. Today, thanks to the able governance, Dubai Creek has been a major tourist destination for the foreigners.

Keep browsing the pages of Asiarooms for more information about Sightseeing in Dubai.